Nottingham Forest are stepping up their attempts to sign Town target Danny Collins on loan from Stoke City, according to a tabloid report this morning. Forest have long been admirers of the 31-year-old, who was on the bench for Wales as they lost 1-0 to England last night.
Steve McClaren’s club are said to be ready to pay close to Collins’s full Stoke wage of £25,000-a-week to gazump the Blues, who have been chasing the former Sunderland man for some weeks.
Central defender or left-back Collins has been left out of Stoke’s 25-man Premier League squad with manager Tony Pulis keen that he should go out and play games elsewhere. Portsmouth have also been linked.
From tomorrow, Football League clubs are able to take players on 'emergency' loans of up to 93 days.
Meanwhile, former Blue Connor Wickham is perhaps unsurprisingly reported to have played down the chances of him returning to Town on loan. Manager Paul Jewell made what appeared to be a semi-serious suggestion that he had enquired about the England U21 international striker’s availability last week.